Jess Hong is set to start work on series two of Netflix hit sci-fi series 3 Body Problem; Grace Palmer has been filming her third series of Animal Control; Rose McIver has been filming her fourth series of Ghosts and Keisha Castle-Hughes sixth series of FBI: Most Wanted is due out soon.
“Breaking into the US market is tough for any Kiwi actor, let alone landing a major role on a multi-season primetime network show,” says Johnson. “I’m immensely proud of Rose, Keisha, Grace and Jess for paving the way in this space.”
Filming for CBS show Ghosts, season four, started in July. The success of the comedy show has been huge, since it premiered in 2021. McIver stars as Sam, who, with her husband Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) make lots of new ghostly friends in the bed and breakfast they are renovating in upstate New York.
In early January, during the filming of her third series in Canada, McIver debuted her growing pregnancy bump on the carpet of the Golden Globes in Hollywood, just months after marrying her boyfriend of six years, artist George Byrne.
Despite McIver’s character being in a relationship on the show, showrunnersopted out of writing the pregnancy into the third season, (which is currently screening on TVNZ+) and cleverly filmed around it.
It is understood McIver and Byrne welcomed a baby girl before filming on season four commenced.
It’s been less than two years since Palmer left New Zealand for Toronto to film the first series of the show, in which she plays Victoria, one of five animal control officers who find themselves in hilarious situations.
The show is set in Seattle and Palmer does Kiwis proud with her character unashamedly played with a Kiwi accent. Filming for the third season began in June and is scheduled to conclude in a few weeks.
Palmer’s first season was filmed through the snowy winter. This month Palmer posted a series of pictures to Instagram of her and her husband, fellow actor Rawiri Jobe, enjoying all the joys the Vancouver summer can deliver.
Keisha Castle-Hughes' FBI: Most Wanted, is due to screen in the US in October. Photo / Doug Sherring
A sixth season of Keisha Castle-Hughes’ successful CBS series FBI: Most Wanted, is due to screen in the US in October and seasons four and five are available on Sky’s SkyGo and Neon.
Castle-Hughes has starred on the show as Special Agent Hana Gibson since it started on screens in 2020. The series, which films in and around New York, focuses on the work of the city’s Fugitive Task Force (FTF), which relentlessly tracks and captures notorious and dangerous criminals.
Kiwi actress Jess Hong is set to start work on series two of Netflix's hit sci-fi series 3 Body Problem.
Jess Hong gained a global fanbase earlier this year when she premiered on Netflix’s alien invasion series 3 Body Problem.
Hong also gets to use her Kiwi vernacular; her pivotal character Jin Cheng has a New Zealand back story. In May, executive producers confirmed the mind-bending Emmy-nominated sci-fi drama will return for a second and third seasons.
A special mention should be made of their fellow male compatriots Karl Urban and Antony Starr whose mega-hit Prime Video series The Boyswill be back for a fifth season. Last month, after the finale of season four, Urban told his Instagram followers he would see them in two years for the show’s final season.
Ricardo Simich is the Herald’s Spy editor. Based in Auckland he covers all roads that lead to popular culture.
